UP Board Class 10 English Chapter 3 – The Midnight Visitor (Supplementary Reader)

This is a story about two smart secret agents who try to trick each other. Ausable, a secret agent is expecting to receive a very important report about some new missiles. Another secret agent, Max also wants to get the report and so, threatens Ausable.

The story begins with Fowler, a young writer, meeting Ausable, a supposed secret agent, at a French hotel. Ausable, did not fit the typical image of a spy. Fowler was disappointed to see Ausable as he could not find any characteristics of a secret agent in Ausable as he had read. Ausable told Fowler that soon he would receive a very important report that could change the course of history.

As they enter Ausable’s room, they were surprised to find a man named Max standing inside with a pistol Max demands the paper Ausable was expecting, claiming it will be safer with him. Ausable calmly sat down and complained about the balcony that is attached to his room. He told Fowler that this was the second time that someone used the balcony to secretly enter his room.

Ausable explained to Fowler that it was actually not his balcony, but the balcony of the next apartment. He further told him that his room and the next apartment were earlier a larger unit. Now, the unit had been divided, but the balcony still existed. The management had done nothing to block the balcony.

Max, then, told Ausable that the report would arrive in half an hour. Ausable wanted to know how Max came to know about the report, but Max asked Ausable how his people had got that report. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Ausable calmly safety. This made Max nervous. He insisted they send the police explained that he had asked the police to check on him for away and escaped from the balcony with a loud scream.

When the door opened, it was not the police, but a waiter with a drink for Ausable. Ausable clarified that there were no police, just the waiter he was expecting. Fowler asked about the balcony and was shocked when Ausable revealed the truth that there was no balcony. This surprising twist left both Fowler and the reader amazed at Ausable’s clever plan to outsmart Max and protect the important report.

यह कहानी दो चतुर गुप्तचरों के विषय में है, जो एक-दूसरे को धोखा देने का प्रयास करते हैं। आजेबल, एक गुप्तचर कुछ नई मिसाइलों के बारे में एक बहुत ही महत्त्वपूर्ण रिपोर्ट ( खबर) प्राप्त करने की आशा कर रहा है। एक अन्य गुप्तचर, मैक्स भी रिपोर्ट प्राप्त करना चाहता है और इसलिए आजेबल को धमकी देता है।

कहानी की शुरुआत एक युवा लेखक, फाउलर के एक तथा कथित गुप्तचर, आजेबल से एक फ्रांसीसी होटल में मुलाकात से होती है। आजेबल एक जासूस की विशिष्ट छवि में उपयुक्त नहीं बैठता। फाउलर आजेबल को देखकर निराश हो जाता है, क्योंकि उसने जैसा पढ़ा था, वैसी गुप्तचर जैसी कोई विशेषता उसे आजेबल में नजर नहीं आई थी। आजेबल फाउलर को बताता है कि जल्द ही उसे एक बहुत ही महत्त्वपूर्ण रिपोर्ट मिलेगी, जो देश के इतिहास की दिशा बदल सकती है।

जैसे ही वे आजेबल के कक्ष में प्रवेश करते हैं, वे मैक्स नाम के एक व्यक्ति को पिस्तौल के साथ अन्दर खड़ा हुआ देखकर आश्चर्यचकित हो जाते हैं। मैक्स उस दस्तावेज की माँग करता है, जिसकी प्रतीक्षा आजेबल कर रहा था और यह दावा करता है कि यह उसके पास अधिक सुरक्षित रहेगा। आजेबल शान्तिपूर्वक बैठ जाता है और अपने कमरे से जुड़ी हुई बालकनी के बारे में शिकायत करता है। वह फाउलर को बताता है कि यह दूसरी बार था, जब किसी ने बालकनी का प्रयोग करके चोरी-छिपे उसके कमरे में प्रवेश किया था।

आजेबल ने फाउलर को समझाया कि वह वास्तव में उसकी बालकनी नहीं है, बल्कि अगले मकान की बालकनी है। उसने आगे बताया कि उसका कमरा और अगला मकान पहले एक ही थे, अब यह विभाजित हो चुके थे, लेकिन बालकनी अभी भी थी। प्रबन्धन (मैनेजमैंट ) ने बालकनी को बन्द करने के सम्बन्ध में कुछ नहीं किया था ।

इसके बाद, मैक्स ने आजेबल को बताया कि रिपोर्ट आधे घण्टे में आ जाएगी। आजेबल जानना चाहता था कि मैक्स को सूचना-पत्र के बारे में कैसे पता चला, लेकिन मैक्स ने आजेबल से पूछा कि उसके लोगों को यह रिपोर्ट कैसे प्राप्त हुई ? तभी किसी ने दरवाजा खटखटाया। आजेबल ने शान्ति से बताया कि उसने पुलिस से उसकी सुरक्षा का ध्यान रखने के लिए कहा था। इससे मैक्स घबरा गया। उसने जोर देकर कहा कि वे पुलिस को वापस भेज दें और एक तेज चीख के साथ बालकनी से बच निकला।

जब दरवाजा खुला, तो वहाँ पुलिस नहीं थी, बल्कि एक वेटर आजेबल के लिए पेय (ड्रिंक) के साथ खड़ा था। आजेबल ने स्पष्ट किया कि वहाँ कोई पुलिस नहीं थी, केवल वेटर था, जिसकी उसे प्रतिक्षा थी। फाउलर ने बालकनी के बारे में पूछा और उसे आश्चर्य हुआ, जब आजेबल ने सच्चाई बताई कि वह कोई बालकनी नहीं थी। इस आश्चर्यजनक मोड़ ने फाउलर और पाठक दोनों को आजेबल की फाउलर को चकमा देने और महत्त्वपूर्ण रिपोर्ट को सुरक्षित रखने की चतुर योजना ने हैरान कर दिया।

(a) Fowler

(b) A policeman

(c) Ausable’s father

(d) Max

Ans. (a) Fowler

(a) secret agent

(b) teacher

(c) stuntman

(d) policeman

Ans. (a) secret agent

(a) London

(b) Japan

(c) Boston

(d) Russia

Ans. (c) Boston

(a) History

(b) Math

(c) Geography

(d) Economy

Ans. (a) History

(a) surprise

(b) authentic thrill

(c) gift

(d) project

Ans. (b) authentic thrill

Ans. Fowler reached Ausable’s room by passing through a musty corridor of a gloomy French hotel. The room was situated on the sixth floor and was very small.

Fowler didn’t find the room suitable for a romantic adventure.

Ans. Ausable’s accent was unique. He spoke French and German passably but he had never altogether lost the American accent he had brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago.

Ans. Ausable wanted to show Fowler an important paper. It was a very important paper for which several men and women have risked their lives. That paper can affect the course of history.

Ans. A man named Max was in Ausable’s room. He was a rival secret agent of Ausable. Max was there to steal a report about new missiles that Ausable was expecting to receive that night. He had a small automatic pistol in his hand.

Ans. No, Max didn’t look dangerous. He was slender, a little less than tall, with features that suggested slightly crafty, pointed countenance of a fox. Except the gun, there was nothing especially menacing about him.

Ans. Max came in Ausable’s room to take some important report concerning some new missiles. He knew that the report was being brought to Ausable that night.

Ans. Ausable was confident that Max wouldn’t return because there was no balcony and Max had jumped to his death as the room was on the sixth floor.

Ans. Ausable is different from other secret agents in several ways. He was extremely fat. Inspite of living in Paris for over twenty years, he spoke French and German with difficulty and had an American accent. Instead of getting messages passed secretly to him by beautiful girls, he got only a routine telephone call for making an appointment. In these ways, he was different from other secret agents.

Ans. Fowler is a writer and he had come to meet Ausable in order to get some material for his writings. His first authentic thrill of the day came when he saw a man in Ausable’s room pointing a pistol towards Ausable and himself.

Ans. Ausable gave a detailed description of the imaginary balcony located near the window of his room. He tells Fowler and indirectly Max that his room was a part of a bigger and larger unit. His room was connected to the next room which had a balcony that extended to the window. He adds that it was the second time someone had entered his room secretly through the balcony. The hotel management staff had done nothing to block the balcony.

The purpose of discussing these details about an imaginary balcony was to convince his enemy, Max of its existence. He knew that the drink that he had ordered would soon be coming and may prompt Max to jump into the balcony and it exactly happened in the same way. As soon as there was a knock at the door, Max was fooled into believing it to be the police. In a hurry to run away, Max jumped into the balcony to his death.

Ans. In the story “The Midnight Visitor’, Max screamed shrilly when he dropped to the balcony because the balcony did not exist at all. It was just a piece of Ausable’s imagination.

Ausable created the story of the balcony to save himself and Fowler and the important papers from reaching wrong hands. He befooled Max into believing that his balcony exists. His brief description to his guest Fowler regarding the presence of the balcony and his complaints regarding the hotel management convinced Max into believing that there was a balcony just outside the window of Ausable’s room.

Therefore, when Ausable created another story of the police, Max tried to jump onto the non-existent balcony without looking. As the room was on sixth floor, Max fell from it unexpectedly and must have died by falling from such a height. His scream was then a result of this unexpected fall.